The English Royal Navy was formally founded in 1546 by
Henry VIII, though the
Kingdom of England had possessed less-organised naval forces for centuries prior to this. The Royal Scots Navy (or Old Scots Navy) had its origins in the Middle Ages until its merger with the English Royal Navy per the
Acts of Union 1707.
Earlier fleets During much of the medieval period, fleets or "king's ships" were often established or gathered for specific campaigns or actions, and these would disperse afterwards. These were generally merchant ships enlisted into service. Unlike some European states, England did not maintain a small permanent core of warships in peacetime. England's naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow. Control of the sea only became critical to Anglo-Saxon kings in the 10th century. In the 11th century,
Æthelred the Unready had a large fleet built by a national levy. During the period of
Danish rule in the 11th century, authorities maintained a standing fleet by taxation, and this continued for a time under
Edward the Confessor, who frequently commanded fleets in person. After the
Norman Conquest in 1066, English naval power waned and England suffered large naval raids from the Vikings. In 1069, this allowed for the invasion and ravaging of England by Jarl Osborn, brother of
King Svein Estridsson, and his sons. The lack of an organised navy came to a head during the
First Barons' War, in which
Prince Louis of France invaded England in support of northern barons. With
King John unable to organise a navy, this meant the French landed at
Sandwich unopposed in April 1216. John's flight to
Winchester and his death later that year left
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke as regent, and he was able to marshal ships to fight the French in the
Battle of Sandwich in 1217 – one of the first major English battles at sea. The outbreak of the
Hundred Years War emphasised the need for an English fleet. French plans for an invasion of England failed when
Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the
Battle of Sluys in 1340. England's naval forces could not prevent frequent raids on the south-coast ports by the French and their allies. Such raids halted only with the occupation of northern France by
Henry V. A
Scottish fleet existed by the reign of
William the Lion in the late 12th century. In the early 13th century there was a resurgence of Viking naval power in the region. The Vikings clashed with Scotland over control of the isles though
Alexander III was ultimately successful in asserting Scottish control. The Scottish fleet was of particular import in repulsing English forces in the early 14th century.
Age of Sail battling Royal Navy warships 's
flagship at
Trafalgar, is still a
commissioned Royal Navy ship, although she is now permanently kept in
dry-dock. A standing "Navy Royal", Under
Elizabeth I, England became involved in a
war with Spain, which saw privately owned vessels combining with the Queen's ships in highly profitable raids against
Spanish commerce and colonies. The Royal Navy was then used in 1588 to repulse the
Spanish Armada, but the
English Armada was lost the next year. In 1603, the
Union of the Crowns created a
personal union between England and Scotland. While the two remained distinct sovereign states for a further century, the two navies increasingly fought as a single force. During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated until
Charles I undertook a major programme of shipbuilding. His
methods of financing the fleet contributed to the outbreak of the
English Civil War, and the
abolition of the monarchy. The
Commonwealth of England replaced many names and symbols in the new Commonwealth Navy, associated with royalty and the
high church, and expanded it to become the most powerful in the world. The fleet was quickly tested in the
First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654) and the
Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660), which saw the British
conquest of Jamaica and successful
attacks on Spanish treasure fleets. The 1660
Restoration saw
Charles II rename the Royal Navy again, and started use of the prefix
HMS. The Navy remained a national institution and not a possession of
the Crown as it had been before. Following the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, England joined the
War of the Grand Alliance which marked the end of
France's brief pre-eminence at sea and the beginning of an enduring British supremacy which would help with the creation of the British Empire. In 1707, the
Scottish navy was united with the English Royal Navy. On Scottish men-of-war, the cross of St Andrew was replaced with the Union Jack. On English ships, the red, white, or blue ensigns had the St George's Cross of England removed from the canton, and the combined crosses of the Union flag put in its place. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Royal Navy was the largest maritime force in the world, maintaining superiority in financing, tactics, training, organisation, social cohesion, hygiene, logistical support and warship design. The peace settlement following the
War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1714) granted Britain
Gibraltar and
Menorca, providing the Navy with
Mediterranean bases. The expansion of the Royal Navy would encourage the
British colonisation of the Americas, with
British (North) America becoming a vital source of
timber for the Royal Navy. There was a defeat during the frustrated
siege of Cartagena de Indias in 1741. A new French
attempt to invade Britain was thwarted by the defeat of their escort fleet in the extraordinary
Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, fought in dangerous conditions. In 1762, the resumption of hostilities with
Spain led to the
British capture of Manila and of
Havana, along with a Spanish fleet sheltering there. British naval supremacy could however be challenged still in this period by coalitions of other nations, as seen in the
American War of Independence. The
United States was
allied to France, and the
Netherlands and Spain were also at war with Britain. In the
Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, the British fleet failed to lift the French blockade, resulting in the surrender of an entire British army at
Yorktown. The
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1801, 1803–1814 & 1815) saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries, which spent most of the war blockaded in port. Although the largest and potentially most dangerous mutinies in the history of the Royal Navy took place at
Spithead and the Nore in spring 1797, British domination at sea was not threatened. Under
Lord Nelson, the navy defeated the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at
Trafalgar (1805). Ships of the line and even frigates, as well as manpower, were prioritised for the naval war in Europe, however, leaving only smaller vessels on the
North America Station and other less active stations, and a heavy reliance upon impressed labour. This would result in problems countering large, well-armed United States Navy frigates which outgunned Royal Naval vessels in single-opponent actions, as well as United States privateers, when the
American War of 1812 broke out concurrent with the war against Napoleonic France and its allies. The Royal Navy still enjoyed a numerical advantage over the former colonists on the Atlantic, and from its base in Bermuda it blockaded the
Atlantic seaboard of the United States throughout the war and carried out (with Royal Marines,
Colonial Marines,
British Army, and
Board of Ordnance military corps units) various amphibious operations, most notably the
Chesapeake campaign. On the
Great Lakes, however, the United States Navy established an advantage.
Splendid isolation in
north Africa by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in an attempt to stop the
Barbary slave trade, 27 August 1816 In 1860,
Albert, Prince Consort, wrote to the foreign secretary
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell with his concern about "a perfect disgrace to our country, and particularly to the
Admiralty". The stated shipbuilding policy of the British monarchy was to take advantage of technological change and so be able to deploy a new
weapons system that could defend British interests before other national and imperial resources are reasonably mobilized. Nevertheless, British taxpayers scrutinized progress in modernizing the Royal Navy so as to ensure, that taxpayers' money is not wasted. Between 1815 and 1914, the Royal Navy saw little serious action, owing to the
absence of any opponent strong enough to challenge its dominance. It did not suffer the drastic cutbacks the various military forces underwent in the period of economic austerity that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the American War of 1812 (when the British Army and the Board of Ordnance military corps were cut back, weakening garrisons around the Empire, the Militia became a paper tiger, and the Volunteer Force and Fencible units disbanded, though the Yeomanry was maintained as a back-up to the police). Britain relied, throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, on imperial fortress colonies (originally
Bermuda, Gibraltar,
Halifax (Nova Scotia), and
Malta). These areas permitted Britain to control the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Control of military forces in Nova Scotia passed to the new Government of Canada after the 1867
Confederation of Canada and control of the naval dockyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia was transferred to the Government of Canada in 1905, five years prior to the establishment of the
Royal Canadian Navy. Prior to the 1920s, it was presumed that the only navies that could challenge the Royal Navy belonged to nations on the Atlantic Ocean or its connected seas, despite the growth of the Imperial Russian and United States Pacific fleets during the latter half of the 19th Century. during the
First Opium War on 1 October 1841 Britain relied on Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, to project power to the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean via the Suez Canal after its completion in 1869. It relied on friendship and common interests between Britain and the United States (which controlled transit through the
Panama Canal, completed in 1914) during and after the First World War, and on Bermuda, to project power the length of the western Atlantic, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. The area controlled from Bermuda (and Halifax until 1905) had been part of the North America Station, until the 1820s, which then absorbed the Jamaica Station to become the
North America and West Indies Station. After the First World War, this formation assumed responsibility for the eastern Pacific Ocean and the western South Atlantic and was known as the
America and West Indies Station until 1956. In 1921, due to the ambitions of Imperial Japan and the threat of the
Imperial Japanese Navy, it was decided to construct the
Singapore Naval Base. During this period, naval warfare underwent a comprehensive transformation, brought about by
steam propulsion, metal ship construction, and explosive munitions. Despite having to completely replace its war fleet, the Navy managed to maintain its overwhelming advantage over all potential rivals. Owing to British leadership in the
Industrial Revolution, the country enjoyed unparalleled shipbuilding capacity and financial resources, which ensured that no rival could take advantage of these revolutionary changes to negate the British advantage in ship numbers. In 1889, Parliament passed the
Naval Defence Act, which formally adopted the 'two-power standard', which stipulated that the Royal Navy should maintain a number of battleships at least equal to the combined strength of the next two largest navies. The end of the 19th century saw structural changes and older vessels were scrapped or placed into reserve, making funds and manpower available for newer ships. The launch of in 1906 rendered all existing battleships obsolete. The transition at this time from coal to fuel-oil for boiler firing would encourage Britain to expand their foothold in former
Ottoman territories in the
Middle East, especially
Iraq.
Exploration 's three voyages The Royal Navy played an historic role in several great global explorations of science and discovery. Beginning in the 18th century many great voyages were commissioned often in co-operation with the
Royal Society, such as the
Northwest Passage expedition of 1741.
James Cook led three great voyages, with goals such as discovering
Terra Australis, observing the
Transit of Venus and searching for the elusive
North-West Passage, these voyages are considered to have contributed to world knowledge and science. In the late 18th century, during a
four year voyage Captain
George Vancouver made detailed maps of the western coastline of
North America. In the 19th century,
Charles Darwin made further contributions to science during the
second voyage of HMS Beagle. The
Ross expedition to the Antarctic made several important discoveries in
biology and
zoology. Several of the Royal Navy's voyages ended in disaster such as those of
Franklin and
Scott. Between 1872 and 1876 undertook the first global marine research expedition, the
Challenger expedition.
World War I in 1916 During
World War I, the Royal Navy's strength was mostly deployed at home in the
Grand Fleet, confronting the German
High Seas Fleet across the North Sea. Several inconclusive clashes took place between them, chiefly the
Battle of Jutland in 1916. The British fighting advantage proved insurmountable, leading the High Seas Fleet to abandon any attempt to challenge British dominance. The Royal Navy under
John Jellicoe also tried to avoid combat and remained in port at
Scapa Flow for much of the war. This was contrary to widespread prewar expectations that in the event of a Continental conflict Britain would primarily provide naval support to the
Entente Powers while sending at most only a small ground army. Nevertheless, the Royal Navy played an important role in securing the
British Isles and the
English Channel, notably ferrying the entire
British Expeditionary Force to the
Western Front at the beginning of the war without the loss of a single life. The Royal Navy nevertheless remained active in other theatres, most notably in the
Mediterranean Sea, where they waged the
Dardanelles and
Gallipoli campaigns in 1914 and 1915. British cruisers hunted down German commerce raiders across the world's oceans in 1914 and 1915, including the battles of
Coronel,
Falklands Islands,
Cocos, and
Rufiji Delta, among others.
Interwar period At the end of World War I, the Royal Navy remained by far the world's most powerful navy, larger than the
U.S. Navy and
French Navy combined, and over twice as large as the
Imperial Japanese Navy and
Royal Italian Navy combined. Its former primary competitor, the Imperial German Navy, was
destroyed at the end of the war. In the
inter-war period, the Royal Navy was stripped of much of its power. The
Washington and
London Naval Treaties imposed the scrapping of some capital ships and limitations on new construction. The lack of an imperial fortress in the region of
Asia, the
Indian Ocean, and the
Pacific Ocean was always to be a weakness throughout the 19th century as the former North American colonies that had become the United States of America had multiplied towards the Pacific Coast of North America, and the
Russian Empire and
Japanese Empire both had ports on the Pacific and had begun building large, modern fleets which went to war with each other in 1904. Britain's reliance on Malta, via the Suez Canal, as the nearest Imperial fortress was improved, relying on amity and common interests that developed between Britain and the United States during and after World War I, by the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, allowing the cruisers based in Bermuda to more easily and rapidly reach the eastern Pacific Ocean (after the war, the Royal Navy's Bermuda-based
North America and West Indies Station was consequently re-designated the
America and West Indies station, including a
South American division. The rising power and increasing belligerence of the Japanese Empire after World War I, however, resulted in the construction of the
Singapore Naval Base, which was completed in 1938, less than four years before hostilities with
Japan did commence during
World War II. In 1931, the
Invergordon Mutiny took place in the
Atlantic Fleet over the
National Government's proposed 25% pay cut, which was eventually reduced to 10%.
International tensions increased in the mid-1930s and the
re-armament of the Royal Navy was well under way by 1938. In addition to new construction, several existing old
battleships,
battlecruisers and
heavy cruisers were reconstructed, and
anti-aircraft weaponry reinforced, while new technologies, such as
ASDIC,
Huff-Duff and
hydrophones, were developed.
World War II visiting the
Home Fleet based at
Scapa Flow, March 1943 At the start of World War II in 1939, the Royal Navy was still the largest in the world, with over 1,400 vessels. The Royal Navy provided critical cover during
Operation Dynamo, the British evacuations from
Dunkirk, and as the ultimate deterrent to a
German invasion of Britain during the following four months. The
Luftwaffe under
Hermann Göring attempted to gain
air supremacy over
southern England in the
Battle of Britain in order to neutralise the
Home Fleet, but faced stiff resistance from the
Royal Air Force. The Royal Navy's
Fleet Air Arm assisted the Royal Air Force, which was suffering from personnel shortages, during the battle. The Luftwaffe bombing offensive during the
Kanalkampf phase of the battle targeted naval convoys and bases in order to lure large concentrations of RAF fighters into
attrition warfare. At
Taranto,
Admiral Cunningham commanded a fleet that launched the first all-aircraft naval attack in history. The Royal Navy suffered heavy
losses in the first two years of the war. Over 3,000 people were lost when the converted
troopship Lancastria was sunk in June 1940, the greatest maritime disaster in Britain's history. The Navy's most critical struggle was the
Battle of the Atlantic defending Britain's vital North American commercial supply lines against
U-boat attack. A traditional
convoy system was instituted from the start of the war, but German submarine tactics, based on group attacks by "
wolf-packs", were much more effective than in the previous war, and the threat remained serious for well over three years.
Cold War is fired from the submerged British
ballistic missile submarine on 9 June 1983 After World War II, the decline of the
British Empire and the
economic hardships in Britain forced the reduction in the size and capability of the Royal Navy. The United States Navy instead took on the role of global naval power. Governments since have faced increasing budgetary pressures, partly due to the
increasing cost of weapons systems. In 1981, Defence Secretary
John Nott had advocated and initiated a
series of cutbacks to the Navy. The
Falklands War however proved a need for the Royal Navy to regain an expeditionary and
littoral capability which, with its resources and structure at the time, would prove difficult. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Royal Navy was a force focused on
blue-water anti-submarine warfare. Its purpose was to search for and destroy
Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic, and to operate the nuclear deterrent submarine force. The navy received its first nuclear weapons with the introduction of the first of the s armed with the
Polaris missile.
Post-Cold War Following the conclusion of the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the end of the
Cold War in 1991, the Royal Navy began to experience a gradual decline in its fleet size in accordance with the changed strategic environment it operated in. While new and more capable ships are continually brought into service, such as the s, s, and
Type 45 destroyers, the total number of ships and submarines operated has continued to steadily reduce. This has caused considerable debate about the size of the Royal Navy. A 2013 report found that the Royal Navy was already too small, and that Britain would have to depend on her allies if her territories were attacked. The Royal Navy was responsible for training the fledgling
Iraqi Navy and securing Iraq's oil terminals following the cessation of hostilities in the country. The Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission (Navy) (
Umm Qasr), headed by a Royal Navy captain, has been responsible for the former duty whilst Commander Task Force Iraqi Maritime, a Royal Navy commodore, was responsible for the latter. The mission ended in May 2011. The financial costs attached to nuclear deterrence, including
Trident missile upgrades and replacements, have become an increasingly significant issue for the navy. ==Assets and resources==